Goh Boon Teck

Goh Boon Teck (Chinese: 吴文徳; pinyin: Wú Wéndé) is a Singaporean director, playwright and production designer.

Early life and education

Goh's mother, Oon Ah Chiam, is a Chinese opera performer who performed with Chinese opera troupe, Sin Sai Hong.^[1][2]

When Goh was young, he would follow Oon on stage as a performer, playing the roles of handmaiden or eunuch.^[1]

Goh studied at Si Ling Primary School then Swiss Cottage Secondary School before majoring in Fine Arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.^[3] He was the first Singaporean recipient of the VISA International Arts Scholarship in 1996 which allowed him to study Theatre Directing at Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom.^[4]

Career

In 1990, Goh with 13 students, who had performed in Kuo Pao Kun's Lao Jiu, formed Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble, the predecessor of Toy Factory Productions. Goh would become its artistic director and it first produced a 20-minute play, The Bull Over The Rainbow, by Goh.^[4]

In 1994, Goh staged Titoudao, a play based on his mother's life story. Titoudao won five awards, Best Play, Best Original Script and Best Actress at the 2001 The Straits Times Life! Theatre Award, Program for Best Production Design/ Art Direction at New York Festivals TV & Film Awards 2021^[5] and Best Newcomer at Asia Contents Awards 2021.^[6][7][8]

In 2001, Goh was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council of Singapore.^[9]

In 2007, Goh was appointed the creative director for the 2007 Singapore National Day Parade first held at The Float @ Marina Bay.^[10]

Goh is a firm believer in the preservation of Asian heritage, culture and history. His plays such as December Rains (2010),^[11] Titoudao (1994), Prism (2003)^[12] are a few of such representative works. Other creations such as Purple (2012), The Crab Flower Club (2012), Grind (2016)^[13] explore topics on gender and sexuality in contemporary Singapore, often prompting audiences to question morality and humanity.

International and local projects

In 2003, Goh was invited by Japan's Kageboushi Theatre Company to stage Prism as its writer and director.^[14] This project involved a 6-countries collaboration, touring Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. Goh's original show - The Crab Flower Club (2012) toured in Beijing, China in the East Pioneer Theatre during the China International Theatre Festival. His other work - K (2012) was showcased in Shanghai Modern Drama Valley in the International 5 Cities Public Theatre Festival, which he took on the roles of a Playwright, Director and Set Designer. Glass Anatomy (2014) staged in Shanghai Culture Square, Original Mandarin Music Festival^[15] was also the first foreign production invited to the festival and second original Singaporean musical presented in China.

Works

Year	Title	Role(s)	Ref
1990	The Bull Over the Rainbow	Director	[4]
1991	Redear	Director	[16]
1992	Posteterne	Playwright, Director and Set Designer
1993	Osean	Director
1994	Titoudao	Playwright and Director	[2]
1995	I Have A Date With Spring	Director	[17]
1996	K	Playwright and Director
1998	Purple	Playwright and Director
	The Phoenix And The Turtle	Director
	Mama Looking For Her Cat	Director
	Storm	Director and Set Designer
1999	Under	Director
	Guys and Dolls	Director and Set Designer	[18]
	A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Theatre Practice	Director
	I Have A Date With Spring	Director
2000	Titoudao	Director & Playwright
	A Tinted Edge	Director & Playwright
	Oleanna	Director & Set Designer
	Gone With That Thing	Director
	Mee Pok Man by Fiction Farm	Script adaptation playwright & Set Designer
2001	Shopping & F***ing	Set Designer
	The Eastern Line On My Palm	Director & Playwright
	The Seventh Drawer	Director
2002	Beautiful Thing (Mandarin)	Director
	K	Playwright
	The Morning People	Director & Set Designer
	Fireface	Set Designer
	Chessmaster	Director
2003	Mad Phoenix	Director & Set Designer
	Bent	Set Director
	Beautiful Thing (Mandarin)	Director & Set Designer
	Prism	Director & Playwright	[19]
2004	East Side Story	Set Designer
	Mergers and Accusations	Director
2005	Thunderstorm	Director
	Dangerous Liaisons	Set Director
	Porcelain	Director
	Spirits	Director & Set Designer in Shanghai
2006	Long House	Playwright
	Army Daze	Director & Set Designer
	Cabaret	Set Designer
2007	TiTouDao	Director & Playwright
2009	Asia On The Edge (September)	Creative Director
	Asia On The Edge (November)	Creative Director
2010	Maha Moggallana	Director & Playwright
	December Rains	Director
	The Crab Flower Club	Playwright, Director & Set Designer
2011	Equus	Set Designer
2012	Tin Tan and his Tembusu Tree	Playwright & Director
	K	Playwright & Director
	The Crab Flower Club	Playwright, Director & Set Designer
	Purple	Playwright
2013	Glass Anatomy	Script Adaptation Playwright, Director & Set Designer
	High Class Musical	Set Designer
	The Penis Society	Playwright
2014	Glass Anatomy	Director (in Shanghai Culture Square, Original Mandarin Music Festival)
	Ah Boys to Men: The Musical	Script Adaptation Playwright
	Innamorati	Director	[20]
2015	Savage Land	Director & Set Designer
	Titoudao	Director & Playwright
	Upstage	Director
	December Rains (Restage)	Director
2016	Grind	Director & Playwright
	Kumarajiva	Director
	Innamorati Two	Director	[20]
2017	Prism	Playwright
	Songs of Guidance	Director
2018	Songs of Liu San Jie	Director
	Sometime Moon	Director & Playwright
	A Dream Under The Southern Bough: The Beginning	Director
	Masters of Comedy	Director
	Oedipus	Director
2019	The Severing Sword	Director
	A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Reverie	Director
	Infinite Island	Director
2020	Titoudao (TV version by Mediacorp)	Creative Director & Original Playwright
	7 Sages of The Bamboo Grove	Director & Co-Playwright
	Old songs of Redhill Market (digital)	Director
	Poetry under the Southern Bough	Creative Director
2021	All The World Is One's Stage	Director
	Masters of Comedy 2	Director
	A Dream Under The Southern Bough - Existence	Director
	Old Songs of Redhill Market	Director
2022	Roar Talents	Director
	Kwa Geok Choo - Singapore and the Story of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew	Director & Chief Artistic Director	[21]
2023	Quest: The White Hare	Playwright & Director
	Ignite The Sun	Director

Accolades

• Best Play of the Year (Titoudao) at 2001 The Straits Times Life! Theatre Award^[7]
• Best Original Script (Titoudao) at 2001 LIFE! Theatre Awards^[7]
• 2001 Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council^[9]
• Best Set Design (Fireface) at 2003 DBS LIFE! Theatre Awards 2003
• Arts and Culture Goh Boon Teck at 2005 Singapore Youth Award
• The Elite Director Award for Glass Anatomy at 5th One Theatre Prestige Award 2014 by Shanghai Modern Drama Valley